Visitor Assistants

www.nationalmuseums.org.uk - Jobboard; City of Edinburgh; On-site; GBP 26,000; Full time

Job description

Contract type:

Details:

Location: Edinburgh

Category: Front of house/visitor services

Salary: £25,420 per annum pro rata (pay award pending) plus generous benefits

Contract type: Contract Temporary

Hours: Other

Telephone: [phone]

Visitor Assistants

About the role

We are delighted to be hiring both part-time and full-time Visitor Assistants to join our welcoming and committed team for our exciting 2025 exhibition season. You should have proven experience in public-facing roles - this might be in visitor attractions, retail, hospitality, entertainment, or any customer-focused setting. A confident, outgoing personality and a genuine enthusiasm for creating memorable visitor experiences are key to succeeding in this role. If you have a background in front-of-house, sales, or customer service and thrive in roles where strong communication and having a passion for supporting others are essential, we’d love to hear from you.

Our Security and Visitor Experience team exists to ensure our visitors can explore, experience and enjoy our artwork safely and securely at our various Galleries. As a Visitor Assistant you will work across the Galleries at the building entrances and on the Switchboard. You will provide outstanding customer service, answer queries and ensure every visitor feels welcome and well-informed. You’ll also play an active role in signing up new Friends members, encouraging donations, promoting and selling tickets and other products to enhance the overall visitor experience.

Working from a choice of 2 days, 3 days, 4 days, or 5 days per week we have positions available during the following timeframes:

1. May or June to 31 January 2026.
2. Mid-July to early November 2025.

Please note: Applicants must be available for the full duration of the contract period. These roles are not suitable for those seeking short-term summer employment.

The difference you’ll make

In all that you do, you'll support your colleagues by welcoming visitors, helping them enjoy their experience of the National Galleries of Scotland and making the most of their visit. The Security and Visitor Experience team’s three key responsibilities are:

1. Visitor Engagement: aiming to deliver an exceptional experience to all our visitors in a welcoming, inclusive, and informative environment.
2. Income generation: encouraging donations, selling tickets for paying exhibitions, and signing up visitors to our Friends scheme.
3. Security: endeavouring to keep people, our buildings and works of art safe, responding effectively to risk.

Reporting to Supervisors and Operations Manager you will:

1. Provide welcoming and engaging conversations with our visitors at the entrances, on the phone and via email giving advice and answering queries.
2. Actively promote our Friends scheme and convert visitors into Members.
3. Drive satisfied visitors to make donations to our boxes situated at the entrance/exit to the Galleries.
4. Sell tickets and other products.
5. Seek out all NGS related content gaining knowledge to act as an ambassador about our galleries, our collection and exhibitions, events, our shops and cafes and other activities.
6. Communicate with colleagues across departments to gather information to answer visitor enquiries.
7. Share knowledge and expertise with team members to improve understanding across the department.
8. Accurately collect all customer data in line with GPDR and NGS guidelines.
9. Follow departmental cash handling procedures performing accurate reconciliations.

Who we are looking for

To succeed in this role, you’ll need the following range of knowledge, skills, and experience:

1. Outstanding interpersonal skills enabling you to engage with people to provide information and deliver sales.
2. Previous experience of working within a front-line, retail, sales, customer services or entertainment environment.
3. Be a strong communicator in person, in writing and over the telephone.
4. Competent at using office systems such as Office 365.
5. Have the resilience to positively respond to challenges and prioritise operational demands.
6. Work well in a busy environment with strong organisational skills.
7. Accurate with figures and experience of cash handling and other methods of payment.
8. Enjoy working as part of a team and with the public.
9. Flexible approach to the job and be able and willing to work weekends, evenings and any required overtime.

It would also be great if you have:

1. Knowledge of Gaelic and/or other languages is desirable but not essential.
2. Knowledge and appreciation of art.

Please apply directly via our careers portal. Applications via email will not be accepted.

The closing date for applications is 12 noon on Monday, 21 April 2025.

National Museum Directors' Council, Tate Britain, Millbank, London SW1P 4RG.